I  just finished the third class (out of four) of my 2/1 Game Forcing Series at the Atlanta Duplicate Bridge Center. 20 people are taking the series and the feedback has been very positive.

I have just added a new series to my schedule, Major Suit Raises. It will be four Tuesdays in August at the ADBC and will cover Drury, 2NT Forcing Raises, Bergen, and Splinters.

For more information see my MAJOR SUIT RAISE ad.

There are many ways to enjoy bridge. Most of my students play at home for fun. However, this week, two of my students adventured out into the world of duplicate bridge for the very first time. Thanks to Ina Parry, who runs a non-life master game at Trinity Church, they had a wonderful time. To top it off they placed second in Flight B and won .57 masterpoints. Congratulations Nancy and Beverly.

I will be teaching a class on 2/1 at the Atlanta Duplicate Center in June.

The class will run for four weeks, June 8th, 15th, 22nd, and 29th from 10:00 am to 12:15 pm.

Cost is $60.

Registration is required, please email me at sam@sammarksbridge.com 

or call me at 770-354-6033

Emory requested some more hands, so here was an interesting hand from the finals on Sunday:

A AQJT87632 KQ J

That’s nine hearts!! A 3-loser hand but I hate opening 2 with freak hands. Particularly when red versus white as we were on this board.

At any rate the auction went:

West                North               East                 South

                                                                      1

Pass                1                   3                  4

Pass                4                   Pass                   ?

Over 3 I truly had no idea what to do, I cuebid 4 but when I bid it I knew partner would have no idea whether I had spade support or not. When he bid 4 it wasn’t clear if he was cuebidding or maybe leaving room for me to show him what suit I was slamming in. I think over 4 maybe I should have bid 5 , but at the table I made the bid of  6 .

The lead was the  8 and this was the hand:

          KQ654

          A8542

          KT3

           A

          AQJT87632

           KQ

           J

Disappointing, maybe the K is singleton. I played the K in dummy, RHO won the A and switched to a low diamond.  When I cashed the A, RHO showed out. Down one.

In the replay at the other table, my hand opened a strong club. In a competitive auction, my hand eventually jumped to 5 and played it there. So, did we lose 13? On a low club lead declarer played low from dummy and RHO won the Q and continued with a low club. Now declarer had to weight the possibility of  8-1 clubs versus 4 -0 hearts. At any rate declarer ruffed with the T and now had to lose 2 hearts tricks. Just another routine push board.

Well I just got back from the Morganton Sectional/District 7 GNT finals. We had a pretty good weekend. There were 12 teams from across District 7 competing for the right to represent our District in the National GNTs, which will be held just prior to the Summer Nationals in New Orleans. There was a Swiss teams held on Saturday that would qualify 4 teams for knockouts on Sunday. With one round to go, our fate was in our hands. If we won the last match, we were sure to qualify for Sunday. If we lost, it would be a long drive back home. Continue Reading »

What’s Trumps?

1                 1

2                 2

2                 3

 _______________________________________

1                 1

2                 2

2                 3

  Continue Reading »

Back from Gatlinburg and time to continue with the Junior Coaching. This week I want to look at responder’s rebids. Most books/lessons give detailed instructions for the first three bids in an auction. By the time we get to responder’s second bid, definitions can become fuzzy. Look at the following auctions and decide if South’s last bid is F(orcing), I(nvitational), C(ompetitive) or W(eak).

1)

West                North               East                 South

                        1                 Pass                 1

Pass                 1                 Pass                 3

Continue Reading »